


Song of the Nagi

by Ychbel



Category: Southeast Asian Mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:08:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29895402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ychbel/pseuds/Ychbel





	Song of the Nagi

They rubbed his skin with snake oil essence, its odor mixing with natural fragrances of the wild flowers. They cut his hair so that his face, ears, and neck were in plain sight. Around his waist, they wrapped a cloth the women weaved from hemp. His torso was made bare so that his chest could boast its boyish manliness. 

The old shaman entered the hut to check on the boy and said to him, “Tonight will be your lucky night, I’m sure of it.” 

“You have blessed your son with such good features,” the shaman said turning to Mira, “unlike your husband who can only be better looking than a carabao.” 

Emil and his mother found no comfort in that. 

“Is the Nagi really true, mother?” Asked the boy. 

Mira tried to smile and say something, but her lips could only tremble. 

“Oh, she is real, alright,” the shaman said instead. “But you must not fear her. She is the soul of the lake, the life of our people. She gives us what we need, we give her what she wants. And you, by simply taking part, will become a man.” 

“But he’s only twelve. Shouldn’t we wait until he’s sixteen at least?” said Mira. 

“Shush, lady,” the shaman replied. “We must be generous with the choices. And your husband had consented.” 

“But Ambang…” 

“No more!” The shaman said and left. 

*** 

The wooden ladder creaked as they descended from the hut. Barefoot, Emil walked down the dirt. They went towards the gathered crowd at the center of the village where the boy joined the others. Twelve young sons from other twelve mothers. 

“I wish the Nagi would pick me,” said one of the boys who was the same age as Emil. “Father said she’s a siren goddess and you’ll get to marry her and live in her palace.” 

An older boy replied, “I do hope she picks you. I’d really prefer not to become dinner.” 

The boy fell silent, confused in a sudden. He looked around at everyone wearing a rather anxious expression. He then turned to Emil, “What do you think?” 

Emil thought of going back to school. He wanted to one day go to the city and enter the university. If god would allow, he wanted to become a dentist so he can help kids with toothaches and make dentures for the old like his grandmother so they can eat properly again. 

“I don’t know,” Emil replied. 

The setting sun set their little world as if in golden flames while the roosting chickens cackled and the insects screeched. The elders began to sing what sounded more like unintelligible ululations as young ladies with flowers in their hair took the boys by the hand. In a procession, they walked across the village towards the shore where a narrow dock poked into the water. 

Emil’s stomach began to churn. He wanted to sit down on the dirt and take a breath, but the soft hand that held his tugged at him. 

*** 

Darkness arrived and the torches sent tall shadows dancing with the swaying of grass and branches upon the trees in the mild evening breeze. The boys stood by the lake, just before the wooden dock. Behind them were the rest of the villagers. 

Emil looked up at the sky, and the moon basked him in gentle silvery light. But he was still far from comfortable. His insides felt raw and the cold sipped through a sheet of evaporating sweat on his back. The other boys must’ve felt the same way judging by their quiet surrender. 

Boats splashed into the water carrying men with torches and arranged themselves in two perpendicular files beyond the dock. As if to welcome the coming of a divine sovereign. The night beyond them grew darker and the flames they carried seemed to burn with even more intensity. 

The old shaman came forward. She wore a headdress made of twigs and feathers and on one hand she held a staff with dried hollow nuts attached to its top end. 

“As our ancestors have promised,” the shaman started looking out to the void that was the lake, “we bring to you the pure souls in young and unspoiled husks. So as it had been arranged we shall live in peace and prosperity. Come and take your prize, great spirit of the deep.” 

The shaman raised her staff, shaking and rattling it,“Come, Siaba, Nagi of Danum! Come!” 

Siaba! Siaba! Siaba! Siaba! 

The noise of the village rose like great tides that could swallow Emil whole. The boy his age fell on his knees and began to cry while Emil and the others looked for a way out but there was none. Preventing their escape were their muses. They would be sleeping with them after the Nagi had chosen her victim. 

“Soon you’ll be a man,” one of the ladies said with a flirtatious grin. 

*** 

It rose from under the black water. It had a torso of a woman, naked and covered in thin layer of slime giving its skin a shiny slippery tone. Its breasts were bigger than a man’s head, its belly firm and only slightly muscular. It had a serpentine body the rest of which was submerged in the water. The upper half of its face was featureless – a mere mass of bones that extended out and curved to a pair of thick horns. Its mouth opened from ear to ear and flaunt a set of fearsome teeth. 

The chanting stopped as if in unified gasp, and the Nagi examined the sacrifice. 

The silence was long and deafening, Emil couldn’t bear it. He wanted to cover his ears and look away from the sight in front of him, but he was frozen in place. He was paralyzed, he alone. 

The Nagi landed and slithered up the dock towards her prize. It stopped halfway, and with long clawed fingers, the Nagi motioned for her victim to come, and Emil’s body obeyed. The unchosen ones backed away further to the shore. 

“No!” Mira’s scream came from the crowd. “You can’t take my son!” 

The Nagi tilted its head at the approaching mother. 

Emil felt his mother catch him from behind and began to drag him back up the dock. 

“Mira,” the old shaman called out from the crowd, “Do not interfere! You’ll damn us all!” 

“Then damn you all!” Mira replied. 

Snarling, the Nagi reached out its limb for her prize to be returned, but Mira won’t let it. 

The serpent charged in, all teeth and claws, when Fred jumped in from behind Mira and hit the Nagi on its horn with his torch. 

A screech pierced their ears as the Nagi retreated, holding its head in its hands. 

“Let’s go, now,” Fred said urging his son and wife. 

Like a massive whip, the Nagi lifted its tail and sent it down, crushing Fred and the planks beneath. 

“Father,” Emil cried out but his mother pulled him back. 

“What have you done, Mira?” the shaman said blocking their path. 

Mira pushed the frail woman to the side where she fell. 

“Mira,” an elderly man said up ahead, “Return the boy, or we will all die.” 

Several other villagers stood behind the old man, determined to stop Emil and his mother from leaving. 

“He’s my son,” Mira replied. 

A man’s hand gripped Emil by the arm while another tore his mother away from him. The boy fought back but he was too weak and too tired. The man twisted his arm and forced him to turn back around. 

From the waters, the Nagi swam to the shore, gills quivering. It came upon the shaman who rose up to her knees and looked up at the towering deity before her. 

“Siaba, Siaba…” the shaman sobbed, making her appeal. 

The Nagi’s long fingers wrapped around the shaman’s head, and with one hand crushed the old woman’s skull. 

The dead body rolled on the bloodstained sand. 

The sight of death sent an electrifying wave of fear to the people. The man’s hold on Emil loosened and the boy wriggled free. 

“Mother,” the boy said, ready to tackle his mother’s captor but the man let go and joined the stampede back to the village. 

From the shore approached the Nagi, moving side to side like the giant serpent that it was. 

Emil pulled his mother up but her gait was heavy. The man who held her must’ve sprained her ankle. 

“I’ll carry you, mother,” said Emil. 

“Go get your sisters,” Mira said, freeing her hand from his son’s. “Get away from here. Never come back.” 

Emil protested but his mother scolded him and cursed him and said many other hurtful things she’d say when overwhelmed by the burden of being a mother of five children and a wife of a poor man. 

The boy ran back into the village and found all his four little sisters. They ran and ran through the forest until they could run no more. They stopped by a brook to get a drink and where they fell asleep under a mossy old tree. 

*** 

Emil woke up with a jolt, afraid he was drowning. 

It was strange waking up underwater. He gasped for breath and breathed water, and he was drowning no more. All around him was translucent green with sun beams illuminating the upper part of this four-dimensional world but unable to penetrate the deep down below. He kicked and flailed but the warmth was too calming for struggle. He held out his hands and found his fingers webbed. He felt something on his neck as he continued to breath. There were three slits on both sides of his throat, filtering for air to take in. 

From somewhere he heard a sound. A vibration that filled the enveloping substance. It was unfamiliar but pleasant. It was the song of the Nagi.


End file.
